Midnight Sun Lust

bomber thanks to BrewBoone shared with zinister and thickerfreakness. Pours black with a tan head which lingered. Nose is bourbon, oak and alcohol. Taste is sour cherries with some bourbon. Mouthfeel is medium with some carbonation and alcohol.

Appearance: Pours a dark brown, near black body with a small, fizzy, khaki-colored head. That’s a decent looking beer. Smell: Bourbon aroma leads, followed by cherries, and notes of oak barrels with some dark maltiness imparting a mild hint of cocoa powder and roast. Taste: For me, the bourbony flavor is up front with it’s tastes of wood, brown sugar, and vanilla beans. Slight tastes of roast and chocolate. Distinct sour cherry flavor. A rather unobtrusive, even sensible Brett character that only helps to accentuate the various flavors and add to the overall complexity of the brew rather than trounce the other components. A whole medley of revisited flavors for the finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Moderate carbonation. Drinkability: It’s good, though a very busy beer, I must say!

Deep prune with a mahogany sheen. Fluffy beige foam deposits scant lace as it slowly dwindles into a thin covering. Well integrated nose boasts port-steeped plums, coconut, rhubarb, butter toffee, caramelized oak and perfumey tannins. Iron, earthy dark chocolate and vibrant cherry whispers. Dense carbonation softly pricks the palate. Thickly bodied yet well-attenuated. Initially tongue-coating in its sweetness, but quite deep and multilayered with a stark bite of sour cherries drizzled with liquefied milk chocolate. Touch of meaty molasses gently curbs the sweetness as it lends some astringency. Brett merely teases the palate with some black-pepper dusted peach notes, but is otherwise far outweighed by the cherries in terms of soft tartness. Any Brett-derived phenols are next to nil. Poignant oak complements the sound malt frame as it effortlessly slices through the sweetness while pillaring the body’s hefty core. Tannins nestle into the palate with a tight grip, but are soon absorbed by the slippery fruitiness. Pervasive alcohol tingles the palate as it unites with the tannins. Becomes borderline fatiguing due to the medicinal effect from the high content of sugar and alcohol. Finishes softly, though alcoholic, with waning notes of cherries over a pillowy medley of biscuit-, plum-, chocolate-, and toffee-tinged malts. Aside from this being a high-gravity beer laced with Brett and sour cherries, it isn’t overly unique or characterful as one might expect. A respectable effort, certainly, but the alcohol obliterates the subtleties and tires the palate. I’d love to see more emphasis on the Brett for added snap, and perhaps some lactobacillus to further allay the sweetness and echo the irony cherry tartness. Wouldn’t take a whole lot of tinkering to turn this into something fabulous.

Thanks to MaltOMeal for this bottle! Shared with MaltOMeal and thickfreakness. Very dark black with thin head. Nose is like strawberry jam, bourbon and vanilla. Flavor is cherries, strawberries and a bit of brett, but not overly so. Some bourbon, but not as much as I expected. Carbonation is very rich. Thanks Bill.

Amazing stuff and just seems to keep getting better....or maybe it’s just me? Will hold a few to try later.